He’s a year older and, he thinks, a little wiser. For Chris Stewart, the hard lessons of a year ago have not been forgotten as he embarks on his third training camp with the Avalanche.
Stewart, 20, was the Avalanche’s first-round draft choice (18th overall) in 2006. After an impressive training camp to the 2006-07 season and a subsequent finish of an even more impressive junior career, Stewart was one of the early cuts at last season’s camp.
“It was a wake-up call. It was a message sent to me that nothing is going to be handed to me,” Stewart said. “You have to work for everything you get. It was tough in the beginning, but I think it will pay off in the long run.”
Exact reasons for the demotion of younger players are usually tough to pry from coaches, but the overall sentiment from Avs management indicated Stewart wasn’t working hard enough.
He spent last season playing right wing for the Avs’ American Hockey League affiliate, the Lake Erie Monsters, watching as several rookie teammates received call-ups while he stayed in Cleveland.
“Your goal is to play in the NHL, but you know if you don’t make the big club, you hope you get a chance during the year,” Stewart said. “I think I started out a little slow in Lake Erie, my first year of pro hockey. The guys are bigger, and it’s a faster game. But I think around November and December, I started to peak and feel comfortable.”
Stewart finished the season with 25 goals and 44 points in 77 games, and felt “not afraid to make plays” by the end. If he doesn’t make the Avs out of this camp, Stewart is still young and likely would get other chances to play in Denver. But this time around, he wants to be the big surprise of camp — and not in the negative way he was last year.
“Last year was an eye-opener in lots of ways,” said Stewart, a native of Toronto. “Just living on your own for the first time, nobody there to make your meals for you, paying your own bills for the first time — things like that. It was a whole different lifestyle. On the ice, I just have to keep trying to get a little better each day.”
Listed at 6-feet-2, 228 pounds, Stewart remains a top prospect as a power forward. Avalanche director of player development Craig Billington said Stewart is “learning how to be a pro a little more every day” and said his game improved greatly in the second half last season.
Cracking the Avs roster out of camp again will be tough, though. Lots of veterans are competing with him, and a lack of size and toughness on the bottom two lines don’t seem to be issues with the Avs.
But all Stewart is concerned with now is having a good camp and letting everything else fall into place from there.
“I can’t control what the coaches do,” he said, “but I can control what I do.”
Adrian Dater: 303-954-1360 or adater@denverpost.com
Avs training camp
The Avalanche will complete a rookie camp today and open full training camp Saturday at the South Suburban Family Sports Center. Practices and scrimmages are open to the public at no charge. Here are some key dates:
Today: Rookie camp, 9:30-11:30 a.m.
Friday: Veterans report for physicals.
Saturday: Training camp, 9 a.m.-noon.
Sunday: Training camp, 9 a.m.-noon.
Monday: Burgundy/White Game at Air Force Academy, 6 p.m.
Tuesday: Training camp, 9 a.m.-noon.
Sept. 24: Preseason opener vs. the Los Angeles Kings at the Pepsi Center, 7 p.m.
Oct. 9: Season opener vs. Boston at the Pepsi Center, 8 p.m.
